i was watching the cricket match and in between
the overs, saw an IBM ad .. on LINUX !! this is

Yeah., this has been around a while., but when corporates do this it
really makes me scared about their motives..

Why? What do you think they will do to linux? Make it proprietary?
Control it? Buy it out?

They can't do any of these things. The code is out there, its free.
No one can control it. The GPL ensures that. There's nothing to
wait and see.

Obviously IBM's motive is monetary profit. No one thinks they're doing
this out of philosophical conviction. But nothing they can do can
harm linux. And so far, whatever they have done has greatly helped
it.

This kind of anti-corporate paranoia/zealotry helps no one. Please
desist.

May I remind you that IBM spent a billion dollars on linux in 1999?
Yes, billion. And that it employs > 100 kernel hackers? Dozens in
India. And of course hundreds more in linux-related jobs. I think
many people on this list were wondering how one makes money from
Free Software. Well, this is how. Please don't bite the hand that
feeds you.

Thank you.
Arvind
--
Q: Do you ever think about quantum computing?
Linus: I think that's a load of bull.
(From a Linux Lunacy cruise interview. After the presumptuous disparagement
of QC, Linus goes on to confuse it with DNA computing.)